Chicago Cubs trading Willson Contreras would be a disaster

Let’s be clear. The Cubs trading Willson Contreras would be a disaster.

The last few months have not been great for Cubs fans. First, we had Theo Epstein step down as president of baseball operations. But, alas, that was just the first blow of the offseason. Then Chicago non-tendered Kyle Schwarber, in a move that I don’t think many people saw coming. Then the Cubs traded their best pitcher in Yu Darvish and his personal catcher Victor Caratini. The cherry on top of all that? Longtime TV voice of the Cubs Len Kasper left to do radio for the crosstown rival White Sox. So, yeah, things have been rough.

As if that weren’t enough, we’re hearing incessant Kris Bryant rumors. Those are bad enough. But in the wake of the Darvish trade, we’ve also been hearing rumors about Chicago trying to trade All-Star catcher Willson Contreras. That one came out of nowhere and it shocked most Cubs fans. New president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said  the Contreras rumors were false but that does not rule out a trade at some point this offseason.

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Contreras would be the most valuable trade piece of the core group. He’s got two more years of team control and is easily one of the best players at his respective position.

Let’s lay it out there. If the Cubs trade Willson Contreras, it would be an unmitigated disaster for the franchise. Such a deal would leave zero Major League catchers on the 40-man roster, to boot.

Contreras has been one of the team’s best offensive players over the last few seasons. He was the starting catcher for the NL All-Star team in 2018 and 2019. His best two seasons of his career to this point came fairly recently in 2017 and 2019

In 2017, Contreras slashed .276/.356/.499 with 21 home runs and 74 RBI. This was his first full season in the big leagues. Then in 2019, he had the best full season of his career so far. He slashed .272/.355/.533 with 24 home runs and 64 RBI.

2020 was a struggle for Contreras like many of his teammates. He slashed .243/.356/.407 with seven home runs and 26 RBI. Like we have said time and time again, with many of the players across the league who struggled in 2020, we probably shouldn’t read too much into that.

Contreras has been the heart and soul of the club over the last few seasons. It would be a disaster on and off the field if the team cut ties just to save a buck.